Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
There are moments that are so simple and lovely in this novel. It is the study of one person’s life. But the author is incredibly smart in embedding different perspectives through letters, testimony, and newspaper articles. The novel starts at the birth of Daisy and skips forward episodically throughout her life. This storytelling technique gives the reader not only the feeling but a deeper understanding of how one person really lives many lives and continues to grow and change throughout their lifetime.
I especially enjoyed the recounting of her mother, Mercy, and father and how they met. This chapter also set up the fortuitous friendship between Mercy and her neighbor, Mrs. Clarentine Flett.
Shields uses a mixture of genres to express the fleeting aspects of time, and the POV of different characters. Prose, letters, dialogue, are all used intermittently to help convey the thoughts and ideas of the different characters.
